Kamila Valieva will perform her freestyle for “Bolero” at the Russian national figure skating championships 2022 in St. Petersburg on Saturday.
The women’s competition at the Russian National Championships is getting better every year, as is the unbelievable Kamila Valieva which went confidently to her first national title on Saturday, 35 points behind. Alexandra Trusova came from fifth to take silver while the three-time and defending champion Anna Shcherbakova won the bronze medal.
After her spectacular short program with a large triple axel, Valieva had a comfortable lead. In her dynamic performance for Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”, the 15-year-old met a Quad Salchow, Triple Axel, Quad Toe-Triple Toe, Quad Toe-Euler-Triple Salchow and four other triples. Your quads look as easy to others as triples. Her turns are amazing, her speed is impressive, and it is very hard to criticize anything about her. Valieva got 193.10 points and got 283.48 points – which would have been her first for the men (despite a lower multiplication factor of the program components).
“Today the crowd support was great and even when I got tired it gives me new energy,” said Valieva. “I’m very happy that I was able to pull myself together, even if I was a little shaky. I’ve almost reached my maximum. I wouldn’t say that I’m not in my best form yet, rather between good and average form. “
When she said this, the journalists, as well as Trusova and Shcherbakova, laughed. “We are now taking a short break, we can rest and recharge our batteries.”
Trusova had missed the triple Axel in the short program and was in fifth place. The World Cup third from 2021 opened her program with a quad flip to the Cruella soundtrack, but then went down on the quad toe. She recovered and landed a Quad Lutz-Euler-Triple Salchow, a Quad Lutz-Triple Toe, and two other clean triples. Trusova scored 174.44 points for a total of 258.65 points.
“I wanted to skate better, but the quad-toe didn’t work. Overall, I’m still satisfied with the result, “said the European bronze medalist 2020. When asked why she didn’t opt for a Quad-Salchow, she said:” The (Quad) Salchow and the Triple-Axel are for me harder than the Flip, Lutz and Toeloop, probably because they are edge jumps. “
Trusova said she was off the ice for three weeks because of her foot injury and only started training again a month ago.
Skating to Master and Margarita music, Shcherbakova fell on her first jump, a quad flip, but produced six clean triples, only the triple loop combined with a triple lutz was both feet. The reigning world champion finished fourth in the freestyle with 158.10 points and slipped from second to third place in the overall standings with 239.56 points.
“At this Russian national championship I am satisfied with the short program and not satisfied with the freestyle,” commented Shcherbakova. “I would like to draw a positive lesson from this. I know what I have to work on and how I can improve my performance. “
Adeliia Petrosian landed two quad loops – she is the first female skater to have made this jump in a competition previously only at national level – and six triples in her routine to the “Paint It Black” program to make her debut at the Seniors Nationals to reach fourth place (233.97 points).
“The quad loop started working about three months ago and we decided to include it in the long program,” explains Petrosian, who trains with the three best skaters at Eteri Tutberidze’s school in Moscow. “At that time I had problems with my quadriceps.”
Sofia Samodelkina did a triple axel in the short program and went on three quads in the freestyle, but only the quad Salchow double toe was clean, while the quad Lutz and the second quad Salchow were under-rotated. She finished fifth with 233.09 points.
“I’m glad that I was able to run my long program without any mistakes and that I made it to the national team next year,” commented Samodelkina. “We looked at which quad ran better in training, Lutz or Toe, and we put that into the program first.”
Crowd favorite Elizaveta Tuktamysheva missed the triple axel in the short program, but came back strong in the free with two triple axels and five triples. The second Axel, however, was undervalued and her effort was not enough to bring it forward and she stayed in seventh place with 224.40 points.
“Today I was much calmer than yesterday,” said the World Cup runner-up in 2021 to the press. “My head was clear, my body was more confident. The most important thing for me today was to do the two triple axels. After that I was so excited that I almost fell. I did what I could, now I want some rest. “
Sofia Muravieva was sixth ahead of Tuktamysheva (230.31) while Maiia Chromykh finished eighth (217.18) followed by Kseniia sinitsyna (204.61).
Petrosian, Samodelkina and Muravieva are not age appropriate for senior international competitions, so Tuktamysheva is likely to be named as the first replacement for the European team.
Related information
2022 Russian citizens, Adeliia Petrosian, Alexandra Trusova, Anna Shcherbakova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Recommended, Kamila Valieva, Kseniia sinitsyna, Maiia Chromykh, Sofia Muravieva, Sofia Samodelkina
